College . 07/08/2008 01:00 AM . Stewart Lundy

The space between A and B is big. Really big. In fact, the majority of our lives will be spent between these two points. Either we’re in middle school, high school, college, grad school, or our career. Point B is whatever our next goal happens to be. The problem with these points is that they are mere thresholds without any lasting dimension in themselves.

The first day you start school is a big day, and that is perhaps your first point B. But as soon as you arrive at point B, the goal of getting to point C arises. For me, point C was home. As soon as any point is crossed, you are moving forward to point C which is for most people, summer, or on a more immediate level, recess. Or, in my case, skipping recess to write stories and have my teacher proofread them.

As described in another recent article, American life is the open road. I would agree and go further: the human life is the open road. In life, we are constantly venturing forth, even if it is merely from home to work to home.

One of the most frustrating things in life is being purely static (stasis), and with good reason: something that is purely static is practically dead. Life is a dynamic process of natural cycles. It only makes sense that getting stuck in a rut would grate against our sensibilities.

If being stuck at point A can be either comforting or boring, the constant motion from A to B can be exhilarating or nauseating. Like a roller coaster going up and down, the process never really stops. But if life is comprised of perpetual process, how is it possible to make progress? Life is a constant ecstasy (ek-stasis) which always draws us out of the stability of non-motion into the feeling of instability with constant motion.

Life is static ecstasy—constant, consistent movement. The problem comes when we try to separate the two and find something that is either perfectly stable or perfectly free. It creates the same conflict between security and liberty we see in politics. We need both, but never to the exclusion of the other.

Progress is made by focusing on the tedium between A and B (e.g., studying, working out, going to church) rather than trying to skip ahead. Generally speaking, the progress of receiving grades flows from the process of studying; the progress of health from working out; and spiritual wellbeing from religious habits.

The threshold of point B is an initiation, the beginning of a new stage of the same process, a continuation of the same progress. Baptism, eucharist, marriage. Each of these operates as a threshold, but are not resting points. The process continues beyond the words “I do”—in fact, the process is precisely living the words “I do.”

While it is one of the most frustrating aspects of our lives, the constant repetition of the same process is the only way to make the progress from A to B. Like a wheel revolving around the same axis over and over, itis the only way to make the car move forward. Or, on an even more practical level, walking from A to B requires the process of moving your left foot, then your right foot, then your left foot. If you stop the process, you stop the progress.

If we can become enamored with the human walk in itself, not merely as a way of getting from A to B, life will be much more pleasant. Instead of always thinking of A in terms of utility (“A will help me get to B, so I’ll suffer through it now”) and rather enjoying life as it is, you will find contentment in the present.

Because life is constantly changing, we can’t help but see the fleeting nature of everything around us. Realizing the utter helplessness of the human condition, despair is one possible response, but there is another response beyond despair: gratitude. Every moment is grace simply because we could do nothing to merit it. And gratitude is not complacent.

The struggle from A to B lasts the entire human life whether it’s from college to graduation, love to marriage, or earth to heaven. But the only way from one to the other is through the process of maintaining the human walk. If the walk is stopped, either by falling back to point A or prematurely jumping to point B, progress likewise stops.

Fine, but what does this actually mean? This means the tedium of repeated motions is the only way to maintain progress. This means doing all the boring paperwork, the tedious homework, and giving gifts, even if the process has become tedious. C.S. Lewis said something about emotions and motions getting out of sync, but the only way to regain the emotion is to maintain the motion. Maintaining the process is the only way to maintain the progress.

Rather than complaining about the process, we should be thankful for the process. We are not cursed with existence, we are blessed with existence. We should learn to love the life given us, not because you believe or don’t believe in God, but because it is good to exist. To quote Saint Augustine, esse qua esse bonum est. To be is to be good. The life cycle is good, and perfectly unmerited regardless of one’s worldview. Ultimately, the appreciation and motivation to embrace the process is at the heart of the human predicament: gratitude for A and B and everything in between.

Stewart Lundy is a freelance writer.


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